


Sleepless In New York

by TheCityLightShow



Series: Sleep Well, Petey-pie [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Dad!Tony, Fluff, Gen, Minor Angst, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-09 01:34:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11658849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCityLightShow/pseuds/TheCityLightShow
Summary: He should be sleeping.Despite the insanity of the last year, despite Thanos and the total devastation he wrecked upon planets Peter hasn’t seen since, upon nineteen blocks in downtown New York before they were able to stop him, once and for all, Peter has school tomorrow. He’s never wanted to go less in his life.Alternatively, 5 times Peter and Tony only felt safe enough to sleep when next to the other.This is a sequel, and you'd be better reading them sequentially!





	Sleepless In New York

**Author's Note:**

> Two in one night!! For those asking; the next parts coming further the Tony/Steve plot, and deal with the Rogue Avengers in part. For now, please enjoy some more Tony and Peter feels.

He should be sleeping.

Despite the insanity of the last year, despite Thanos and the total devastation he wrecked upon planets Peter hasn’t seen since, upon nineteen blocks in downtown New York before they were able to stop him, once and for all, Peter has school tomorrow. He’s never wanted to go less in his life.

Tony has legally reclaimed the tower in Thanos’s wake, and the Avengers one-by-one have been pardoned and thanked, the Accords seemingly a forgotten mess to the outside world, and a certain element of domesticity settled over the tower. Peter lives on the penthouse floor, a room just down the corridor from Tony’s. Tony had fought hard to be allowed to adopt Peter and keep him around, and Peter had spent most of those days in bed.

He’s an avenger and a student, living with his heroes and fighting their battles. It’s everything he wanted after Berlin – in some ways it’s more, it’s possibly even better – but he misses May. He probably always will, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less.

It’s been two months since it started and just over a month since it ended, and Peter has helped to rebuild, has been going to the therapy pretty much everyone is attending now, and he’s been to school. He’s seen Ned and hugged him tightly, seen Michelle and received a genuine smile. Flash even offered him a fist-bump, doesn’t bother him much anymore. Everything’s changed and you’d think he’d enjoy it, but he just feels kind of hollow. He can’t face the stares, the whispers in- aw hell, it’s only in five hours’ time, now. He never wanted people to know he’s Spiderman, but some do now; they were there when May fell, and _god_ Peter needs to stop thinking now.

He closes his eyes and May is falling, opens them to the dark room and Tony is there in front of his eyes, writhing in agony and no one can get the gauntlet _off-_

Peter sits up, tossing the covers aside. There’s no way in hell he’s going to sleep now, so there’s little point in trying. Perhaps if he looks awful enough in the morning, Tony won’t make him go. He rubs his eyes hard, but it’s like Tony’s almost-death is ingrained on his retina… before he’s quite made the conscious decision, Peter’s up and silently creeping down the corridor to where he knows Tony is sleeping in his room – he’d heard him shuffle tiredly past earlier, pausing outside Peter’s door a moment. Peter does the same now, pausing outside the door before he can move on and find something to do for a few hours, but even with heightened senses Tony’s breathing is oddly muffled. He’ll just stick his head around the door, that’s all.

Tony is burrowed under the blankets, only his messy hair visible splayed against the pillow, and Peter can hear his breathing now. He nearly sinks down to the floor in relief, partially unaware of just how scared he’d been of having missed something, of having lost the last bit of family he’s got, but instead he staggers forward without his own permission. There’s more sound than he would like, but it’s not enough to wake the sleeping genius, and Peter battles with himself for a moment, before lying down next to him. He used to do this with May, at first only after his parents died – and he barely remembers them now, it’s true – but there was a month after Ben died where more nights than not he climbed in beside her. She’d usually wake at some point after, pull him closer and fall straight back to sleep. She never asked, never judged, and it was probably Peter’s greatest source of comfort.

He’ll just- stay a moment. Not long enough to be discovered, just… to be close. For a moment, just in case.

 

Tony wakes with the sun, thanks to Friday keeping the blinds open for him. He won’t shut them, needs to identify fast when he wakes that he’s still in New York, even if Thanos modified the skyline somewhat. He’d dreamt again – seems impossible not to dream of the gauntlet these days, and the near constant ache for something he never actually had to lose is worse than having the arch reactor back. He’s about to roll over away from the skyline, when he realises – he’s not alone in the bed. Twisting slowly without travelling across the bed is hard, but he doesn’t want to disturb- Peter. The teen is laid out a top the covers in a baggy shirt and sleep pants only just too big for him, curled towards Tony and looking more peaceful than Tony has seen him look in weeks.

He settles facing him, the boy he’d dreamt of raising, and smiles sadly. There’s a lot of sleepless nights ahead, but they’ll get through it. Together, like the Avengers should’ve been from the beginning. Peter’s forehead suddenly creases in his sleep, distressed and steadily getting worse as the kid slips towards a nightmare, and Tony doesn’t think, just reaches out with a gentle arm around his waist and pulls him closer. There’s a tense moment where Tony worries he’s woken Peter up, might’ve overstepped, but Peter settles into the embrace, face pressed into Tony’s chest despite the light of the newly returned arc, and the distress on his face slips away.

Tony goes back to sleep.

 

**

 

Tony had forbidden Friday from calling anyone, but he was beginning to regret it. It was beyond two in the morning, but there would have been somebody awake to answer if Friday had asked – whether it would be Steve or Natasha or Peter or somebody else, he didn’t know, but it would’ve been better than letting the panic consume him alone.

His hands are still shaking and he longs for a drink, but the now ever-present mantra of not becoming Howard remains and stops him. Instead he gets shakily back to his feet with the workbench under his hand for support, clumsily pats Dum-E on the head and bids Friday goodnight as he heads for the elevator. He won’t sleep, but he can’t remain down there and listen to Dum-E and the bots beep worriedly because it’s suddenly so hard to make him smile.

He pads out of the elevator into the penthouse. It’s doused in darkness, but the glittering skyline beyond the windows illuminates enough that Tony can navigate it easily. He pauses for a moment, always able to marvel in that skyline and the resilience of New Yorkers, before shaking his head and wandering towards his room. He pauses outside Peter’s room, as always, and smiles when he can hear the kid breathing evenly in his sleep. He should go to his own room – sparse and clinical, nothing like an actual home despite everything in it from the pillows to the shower to the closet being state of the art – but he allows himself to stick his head around the door and just check.

Peter’s asleep, and his room is oddly neat for a teenager – books stack on the shelves and Lego models are lined up against one wall. He’s got jackets hung on his wardrobe door and yesterday’s shirt tossed over his chair. There’s numerous obscure posters, and the notice board above the desk is covered in jottings that make Tony think of Bruce’s working notebook and photos – there’s May and Ned and the decathlon team beside himself and- Tony does a double take, and can’t help but come into the room. The last photo is one that Peter can’t have taken, because it’s of them both and definitely candid. It’s from just before the final battle, when Tony had put his hands on Peter’s shoulders and told him that he was “ _so incredibly proud of you kid- but if you come this time, I can’t promise you that you’re going to come back, and I can’t- Peter I won’t lose you”_ and Peter had smiled up at him to receive a vaguely confused but fond one in return (the moment the photo captures) and told him “ _I’m an Avenger. This is what we do.”_

Tony stares at that photo a long long time, touched that Peter’s tracked down the image to include it here, so much that he startles as Peter rolls over in his sleep and- raises the edge of the blankets. It’s a silent offer, and Tony can see in the dim light that Peter isn’t even close to fully awake, so Tony accepts before he can be, lying awkwardly on the edge of the bed. It feels weird to have this happen the other way around – but his hands are no longer shaking as Peter huffs and drops the blanket. Tony still feels out of place, but then Peter’s hand is smushing across his face – it’s actually kind of painful. “Stop thinking so loud Dad.” The kid mumbles, plonking his head down on Tony’s shoulder. Tony relaxes, curling sideways slightly and he can see Peter smile as he falls off to a deeper sleep again.

Tony doesn’t even realised Peter called him Dad until the morning.

 

**

 

Tony’s working on his tablet on the common floor. A month and a half has passed since Thanos, and everyone on the team seems to be making a concerted effort to be better. People hang around the common floor at all hours – conversations are silted, and when they don’t become arguments they come a little easier every day. It’s hard sometimes, sitting there and forcing himself to stay, but often he’s welcomed back, or people – namely Natasha, Bruce and Steve – express sadness at seeing him go. He works on his tablet when he knows they’re going to be around, at one side of one of the couches – the only doorway he his back to is the personal quarters, which is the safest way to not back himself into a corner. Usually there’s a Steve at the other end of the couch, but today the only other person on the floor is Natasha, curled with a book into an armchair.

Tony doesn’t realise that it’s moving from mid-afternoon to evening until the elevator opens, and before Tony’s looked up to see who it is, he’s got a lap-full of Peter where his tablet had been a moment before. He’s not even taken off his rucksack, and Tony chuckles softly, setting the tablet aside and running a hand through Peter’s hair.

“Rough day kid?” he asks, and Peter simply nods, moving enough to pull his feet on the other end of the couch and curl further into Tony’s space. Tony relaxes easily, taking as much comfort in Peter as Peter takes in him. “You wanna talk about it?” he asks softly. Peter gives a half shrug.

“Flash is a fucking asshole.” The words are muffled by Tony’s stomach, but he can still catch it, and flicks Peter’s ear gently. “Dad, whyyy.” Peter whines, voice soft like he’s falling asleep and Tony couldn’t have helped the smile even if he’d wanted to.

“Swearing is for adults, Spiderling.” Peter huffs, and soon drifts off with his head on Tony’s lap, rucksack still on. Tony had wondered how much sleep Peter had had this morning – or more importantly, hadn’t had – when he’d nearly dropped the bottle of juice tossed to him this morning. But he’d insisted he was fine, and that he wanted to see Ned and Michelle, and Tony wasn’t about to be an asshole and keep him away from his friends. And he could sleep now, Tony didn’t mind.

Tony left one hand in Peter’s hair, and went back to working on his tablet, ignoring Natasha’s pleased little smile.

“It suits you.” She told him, still smiling. Tony was inclined to agree.

 

**

 

For Steve’s first mission as the reinstated Captain America, Tony shut himself in the workshop with every intention of staying there and living off snacks and Dum-E’s smoothies for the duration. And for the first day, Peter let him, though having Tony down in the workshop left him an anxiety-riddled mess glad for Saturday, because he would’ve been asleep on the way to school let alone in classes, but the second day… Friday had been muted from talking about Tony, but Peter didn’t need to ask. He punched in the code Tony had given him upon return to the tower, fully prepared to use whatever force necessary to make him leave – but there’d be no force needed.

Tony was asleep at the work top, brow creased, but otherwise no signs of discomfort – although he’d have a hell of a crick in his neck when he woke up – and Peter paused, unsure how to proceed. In the end, while he was asleep, it wouldn’t do him any good to sleep down here, and to wake where he couldn’t see the skyline. Peter carefully tipped the chair until Tony was leaning back into Peter’s arm – thank god for super-strength – and then with one arm hooked under his knees, Peter lifts.

There’s an awful moment where Peter thinks he’s misjudged the momentum as he’s stood up and they’re about to go toppling backwards, but he remains upright. After that it’s easy to walk steadily into the elevator and then stand there, humming AC/DC softly as it climbs, like a lullaby that’s going to keep Tony sleeping. The situation is a bit surreal, but the frown lines on Tony’s forehead have already smoothed out, and Peter couldn’t leave him down there, for both their sakes.

Setting Tony down on his bed was harder than picking him up in the first place had been – not because of an awkward angle, and Peter’s arms don’t even ache yet; it’s because Tony won’t let him go. Tony’s grip on Peter’s shirt isn’t enough to tear it, but Peter doesn’t particularly want to force him to let go, mostly because he’ll end up tipped over and lying on him. He could use pressure points, but that’d wake Tony up.

“Where’s a crowbar when you need one?” he murmurs to himself and wondering how this has become his life. He sighs heavily, staring at the ceiling and considering his options, when Tony shifts and hisses and mutters-

“Don’t take m’son.”

His voice is quiet, slurred in his sleep, but Peter can make out the words easily, and his heart jumps. Oh. It’s not just Steve being gone, it’s… it’s a little bit of everything. Peter breathes deep and prays he doesn’t fuck up his newly revised plan. He sets Tony down and in the same movement goes with the momentum of Tony rolling to be laid on the other side of him, Tony’s hands still fisted in his shirt. He’s asleep in seconds, Tony’s hands relaxing now he’s not trying to go anywhere.

 

**

 

The second time Steve has to go on a mission – and this time he’d nervously kissed Tony goodbye, which Peter doesn’t know what he thinks about that, but Tony had smiled as brightly as he does at his bots, so it’s none of his business – Tony doesn’t shut himself away. He’s on edge and jumpy, but he works on his tablet and goes to his meetings, and he’s sat in the common floor kitchen when Peter gets home from school. Tony looks immensely relieved to see him, all in the way his shoulders drop and the smile he breaks out into is almost shaky. Peter had been going to nap, but at the sight of Tony he quickly revises his plan.

“Hey Dad.” He greets – and screw that everyone thinks it’s a product of the gauntlet dream, he’s been biting it back since just after Berlin and knowing Tony thinks of him as _son_ , well, he’s just gonna go for it – and dumps his school bag on the chair next to him. Tony’s grinning again.

“Hey Petey,” the nickname should grate, it’s juvenile and silly and Peter enjoys it far too much for a teenager, “good day at school?” he asks, setting his tablet aside, and Peter slides into a seat on the other side of his bag as he searches for an answer.

“It’s school.” He settles on, knowing it sounds lame – but it is. He’s smarter than his classmates and now half of them know he’s Spiderman… it’s all stares and whispers. Tony frowns at that, but Peter interjects before Tony can ask. “I joined band again, though. So that should… y’know. Help.” Tony watches him a moment. “I keep nodding off.” Peter admits, and Tony’s face softens.

“I get that.” He mutters, but he doesn’t pick up his tablet again. Peter wonders why, and remembers – _my father never supported what I did_ \- Tony’s efforts to not be his father. Peter might ask, one day, but now he can only wonder if Howard Stark paid any attention to Tony at all.

 

That night, Peter steels himself for an awkward situation. He’s got school tomorrow, and Tony has a big board meeting – Pepper had dropped by to remind him, had even told him straight up to get some sleep. Tony won’t sleep while any of the Avengers are out on missions, and Steve being gone is typically worse – and Peter isn’t having it. So when Tony notices the time and decides that if Peter’s going to bed (later than he should, but even if it takes him an hour to sleep it’ll be more than he’s had in a while) then he should too, Peter doesn’t even pretend to try falling asleep in his own bed.

He changes into his pjs in his own room and starts to brush his teeth, but wanders into Tony’s room like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Tony doesn’t say a thing when Peter walks in, still brushing his teeth, and once Peter’s deposited his toothbrush in Tony’s en suite he looks like he might ask. Peter just raises an eyebrow at him – wishing it could hold any of the challenge that Natasha’s would, maybe he’ll have to ask her about it – and Tony eventually shrugs, and lies down.

Peter’s asleep before he hits the covers, “night Dad” muffled against the pillow.

 

**Author's Note:**

> As always, you can find me at my **[tumblr](http://thecitylightshow.tumblr.com/)**!! Y'all should come and talk to me; I am ready and willing. Laters m'dears :D


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